Harry Weese

Harry Weese
Born	June 30, 1915(1915-06-30) Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Died	October 29, 1998(1998-10-29) (aged 83)
Nationality	American
Work
Buildings	Arena Stage Time-Life Building
Projects	Washington Metro

Harry Mohr Weese (June 30, 1915 - October 29, 1998) was an American architect, born in Evanston, Illinois^[1] in the Chicago suburbs, who had an important role in 20th century modernism and historic preservation. His brother, Ben Weese, is also a renowned architect.

Contents 1 Background 2 Works 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links

Background

Harry Weese studied under the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduated in 1938, and went on to study city planning while on a fellowship at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Weese was also influenced by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, whom he met at Cranbrook. He built primarily in the modern architectural style, but integrated other styles as he felt appropriate for the project. Out of Cranbrook, Weese joined the major architectural and engineering firm, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. During World War II, Weese served as an engineer on a U.S. Navy destroyer, and 1947, he started his own architectural firm.

Weese is also well known for his firm advocacy of historic preservation and was remembered as the architect who "shaped Chicago’s skyline and the way the city thought about everything from the lakefront to its treasure-trove of historical buildings."^[2] Weese also served as a judge for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial design competition.

Toward the end of his life, Weese drank heavily and his reputation faded; he died after years of going in and out of alcohol rehab.^[3]

Works

Weese is best known as the designer and architect of the first group of stations in the Washington Metro system. Other well known works include:

• Alpha Sigma Phi, Alpha Xi Chapter House at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois
• The United States Embassy Building in Accra, Ghana.
• Arena Stage, Washington, D.C..
• Time-Life Building, Chicago, Illinois.^[2]
• First Baptist Church, in Columbus, Indiana.
• Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist in Chicago, Illinois.
• The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• The Humanities Building at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, widely considered one the Midwest's best examples of brutalist architecture but slated for demolition soon.
• The Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, formerly known as the Elvehjem Museum of Art.
• The Upper School (high school) building on the campus of The Latin School of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.
• Pierce Tower, an undergraduate residence hall at the University of Chicago.
• Mercantile Bank, Kansas City, Missouri.
• Westin Crown Center Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri.
• The former U.S. Embassy to Ghana in Accra.
• Fulton House at 345 N. Canal Street in Chicago. Converted 19th century 16-story cold-storage warehouse building to condominium building.
• Fewkes Tower at 55 W. Chestnut Street (formerly 838 N. Dearborn Street) in Chicago^[4]
• River Cottages at 357-365 N. Canal Street in Chicago. Sloped, structurally expressive facade responds to the angle and cross bracing of the railroad bridge directly across the river.
• William J. Campbell United States Courthouse Annex in downtown Chicago (formerly known as the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago.) Federal temporary holding prison which has no window bars, instead each cell is provided with a vertical 5" slot window. Weese was mandated to follow then new federal prison architectural guidelines, like cells having no bars and by original design each prisoner had his own room.^[5][6]
• Middletown City Building, Middletown, Ohio.
• Formica Building, Cincinnati
• Sterling Morton Library, The Morton Arboretum.
• O'Brian Hall at the State University of New York at Buffalo
• The Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston
• The Given Institute, Aspen Colorado

Weese also led numerous restoration projects including:

• Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois 1967.^[2]
• Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois^[1]
• Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois^[1]
• Union Station, Washington, DC^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Muschamp, Herbert (1998, November 3). "Harry Weese, 83, Designer of Metro System in Washington". The New York Times. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Harry Weese, Visionary Architect Known as 'Chicago's Conscience'". Chicago Tribune. 1998, November 1. 
3. ^ "Reconstructing Harry Weese". Chicago magazine. 2010, July 11. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/July-2010/On-the-Life-and-Work-of-Chicago-Architect-Harry-Weese/. 
4. ^ "The Fewkes Tower". ChicagoArchitecture.info. http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/Building/3091/The-Fewkes-Tower.php. 
5. ^ Cf. Waldheim, p.285
6. ^ Cf. Art Institute of Chicago, transcript of oral history interview with Harry Weese. pp.179 and onwards.

Further reading

• "Biography of Harry Weese" - The Art Institute of Chicago
• Waldheim, Charles; Ray, Katerina Ruedi, "Chicago Architecture: histories, revisions, alternatives", Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2005. ISBN 0226870383
• Weese, Kitty Baldwin, Harry Weese Houses, Chicago Review Press, August 1987

External links

• Oral history interview with Harry Weese - Art Institute of Chicago.
• Works by or about Harry Weese in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Persondata
Name	Weese, Harry
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 30, 1915
Place of birth	Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Date of death	October 29, 1998
Place of death